MPC, DVD, Copy-protect fail

I came across a DVD that MPC (downloaded from codecguide.com) says, "Copy-protect fail". If I play DVD in another media player (that I do not like as much), it plays. Are there settings I need to change? Thanks.

There is no setting to fix this. The other player probably doesn't depend on the DVD navigator filter from Microsoft. I don't have a solution for you.

Is there some way to disable this DVD navigator filter from Microsoft?

No. It is required for DVD menus.

Only way to avoid it is to directly play the vts_xx.ifo files on the DVD. And if that also does not work, then there is nothing I can do for you to help.

I have some additional information.

(Note: 3 laptops...)
I have 2 other laptops, which I cannot currently use as they are each partly disassembled and waiting for a part, but they work enough to play a dvd. They both have the same windows version as current laptop I am using and both have the same software--I install all the same on all my machines, and both have MPC. This same dvd plays on both of those with MPC. Does this give any clues, or lead to more things I can check?

Thanks.

The region code to which the DVD drive is set can have effect.

The player does a trick to bypass region code check if they don't match. But some (region 1) discs have extra protection.

The video renderer selected in the player can also matter. Haali renderer does not support DVD. Use EVR-CP or MPC Video Renderer.

Thank-you, for the suggestions.  Here are the results:

(Note: A = machine that won't play DVD, B,C = machines that do play DVD)

All 3 machines are set to Region 1.

For MPC:
I went through the whole list of renderers on A and tried each.  They all get the Copy-protect fail.  However, I found that B and C, if set to "Old Video Renderer",  also result in the Copy-protect fail.

I compared all the settings between A and the others.  There were various settings that were present or not present on one or the other, so I could not compare those.  Under "Advanced Settings" on A, there are many more settings available than the other 2, so I could not compare the extras, but I made sure the ones in common are the same.  With the settings set the same, as much as possible as stated, A still receives Copy-protect fail.

Try the same older version that you are using on B/C.

I can not do anything without having an ISO of that particular DVD. If you could share that though for example Google Drive or Dropbox, then I could do some tests.

Before the below update, I forgot to say that I have tried several other DVD's on this machine and they played fine--that is why I suspected the DVD. However...

When I made the iso on this machine, it failed. When I made the iso on one of the other machines, with the same iso maker, it succeeded. The iso then played back fine on this machine. That was rather baffling. Just to see what would happen, I ran a cleaning kit on this DVD drive. The DVD then played fine. It appears a little dust on the lens might affect just one disk and not others.

Good to know that a dirty lens or reading error can cause this error. Thanks for the feedback.

More strange behavior....

Another DVD, same machine:  Copy-protect fail (using MPC)
I performed the same tests as the other DVD (above posts) with different results:

(p = previous--above posts; c = current--another DVD)

Cleaned lens
p:  solved issue (or seemed to)
c:  (cleaned again) made no difference.

tried different player/software:
p:  played fine (but on different machine--did not have the software on this machine/did not test at that time)
c:  plays fine on this machine

made iso file
p:  failed/would not make iso
c:  made iso just fine

played iso
p:  although iso was made on other machine, it played on this one (MPC)
c: iso made and played (MPC) on this machine


Summary:
An iso file can be made, and it will play in MPC.
MPC will not play direct from the DVD (copy-protect fail)
Another player/software will play direct from the DVD.

Any ideas?

No. Sorry.

The player that works is VLC. Is there something about VLC or some setting in there that could be applied the same to MPC? Thanks.

VLC does not depend on the MS DVD Navigator filter. There is nothing that can be used from it to benefit MPC.

Questions:

1. Is MS DVD Navigator filter part of Windows?

2. Does MPC use MS DVD Navigator filter to play any and all DVD's?

Yes and yes.

This is simply how it it and can't be changed.

Why would 2 other machines, with the exact same Windows installation as this machine, and same installed software and including MPC, play any DVD with MPC, and this one will not?

I don't know. Could be the DVD drive itself.

You can try just copying the contents of the DVD to the harddrive and play from there. Also avoids noise from the DVD drive during playback.

Another drive is something I can try. I am away from home for a few months, so I won't be able to get on this right away. Something else I thought of is the video driver. Do you think that would be something else to look into?

Thanks, for your suggestions and help.

Graphics driver should not give this specific problem. Certainly not with only specific discs.

Thanks, again. If I figure it out, or have additional information, I'll post it here, but it will be a while.

SOLVED:

I have a backup image of my hard drive.  I make my images without any drivers installed, just in case there is some driver problem later.  When I was investigating an unrelated issue, I installed the backup image to test something. At the same time, I also tested some DVD's..particularly,ones that would not play as described above.  They all played fine (MPC).  I installed each driver and then tried a DVD.  It was a Toshiba driver called "Intel Rapid Storage Technology".  Since I do not have an SSD, I don't need this driver.  This driver caused this issue.  I have not had any problem with this since.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

Intel Rapid Storage Technology is mostly used for creating RAID array with SATA harddrives, not for SSDs.

https://community.intel.com/t5/Rapid-Storage-Technology/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-BD-DVD-drive-issue/td-p/593379